I am concerned that many young people in the Hemisphere seem to envision the United States as a nation intoxicated by power, addicted to warfare, controlled by a military-industrial complex, and determined to preserve the status quo, that we are against rapid economic and social growth.

Not only are Puerto Ricans citizens by birth, but one would be hard-pressed to find a Puerto Rican without a sister in New York or a son in Chicago, a cousin in Orlando or a daughter in Honolulu or Oklahoma City.

The scholars and critics all called it kitsch, everyone thought I was crazy to buy them.

Quoted in a Forbes magazine interview in 1993[1], on his acquisition of art pieces to create the Ponce Museum of Art, now the largest art museum in the Caribbean, and considered one of the best in the Americas.

Revolutionary in my ideas, liberal in my objectives and conservative in my methods.

The most important things in my life have been being governor of Puerto Rico and eliminating the old tradition that was established by [former Gov. Luis] Muñoz himself of being a boss. He was the boss of the government and there was no opposition in Puerto Rico. That was the thing I broke to make Puerto Rico a two-party system, a truly democratic society.